The sky split apart like glass.
Kael Ardyn froze in the village square, his chest tightening, lungs burning. Crimson light poured from the heavens, blotting out the stars he had known since childhood. The clouds twisted unnaturally, forming jagged, shadowed shapes that seemed to reach down, clawing at the earth.
People screamed. Mothers grabbed their children, fathers yelled orders that fell flat against the roar of the sky. Somewhere, a horse panicked and bolted into a burning house. Smoke stung Kael's eyes, but he didn't blink. He couldn't.
Then the star fell.
It was no gentle meteor, no soft glow like the legends promised. It crashed into the eastern hills with a force that made the ground quake under Kael's feet. The earth tore open in a fiery explosion, throwing Kael to the ground. Ash rained like snow, coating the village in a suffocating layer of gray and black.
"Kael! Run!" a voice screamed.
Instinct overrode fear. He scrambled to his feet, stumbling over broken stones, running toward the hills. Behind him, screams of villagers being consumed by fire and collapse echoed, but he didn't dare look. Not yet.
The pull in his chest grew stronger with every step, like invisible chains dragging him forward. It was a force he didn't understand, a voice he couldn't hear but felt. His body moved on its own.
At the crater, the world went silent.
A black star pulsed in the center. Alive. Breathing. Calling him.
Kael reached out.
Pain erupted.
Something inside him tore open, memories fracturing: his mother's warm smile, his father's voice calling him in for supper… gone, devoured by the darkness.
And then, the black star marked him. A jagged, burning emblem imprinted itself on his chest, radiating a cold fire. The world was no longer safe. The boy he had been was dead.